Writers from Guayaquil - Ecuadorian Literature

Verónica Coello Moreira

Verónica Coello Moreira (Guayaquil, 1975) is an Ecuadorian journalist, writer, and university and high school professor. She is the author of the novel “Memoria de Papel” (2021), which won the Miguel Riofro National Literary Award, as well as the short story collection “La cena” (2017). She is a columnist for the newspapers El Universo (Ecuador) and El Peruano (Peru), as well as the co-host of the political talk show “Al día.”

Gabriela Vargas

Gabriela Vargas Aguirre (Guayaquil, 1984) is an Ecuadorian poet. Her first collection of poems, “La ruta de la ceniza” (2017), which dealt with her mother’s death, received critical acclaim. She was able to publish the book thanks to a competitive grant from the Ministry of Culture and Patrimony. She has participated in various poetry festivals in Ecuador and other South American nations and her poems have been published in several anthologies. In 2020 her second poetry collection, “Lugares que no existen en las guías turísticas,” won the Vicente Huidobro International Poetry Prize and was published in Spain in 2021 by Valparaíso Ediciones.

Gastón Calderón

Gastón Calderón Villegas (Guayaquil, November 25, 1993) is an Ecuadorian writer of young adult novels. He has published over 8 books, including “Primero es ella,” which made him the best-selling author in Ecuador of 2019. In 2023, he was honored with the prestigious Gold Medal for Cultural Diffusion by the association La Renaissance Française in Ecuador. The medal was presented to Calderón on January 4th at La Madriguera bookstore by Joëlle Cattan, a French writer and representative of the association.

Margarita Barriga

Margarita Barriga Pino (Guayaquil, 1940) is an Ecuadorian children’s literature author. She is married to Armando Baquerizo, with whom she has eight children and twenty grandchildren. She took Theater and Pedagogy courses and was a teacher of Puppetry and Education at the Santiago de Guayaquil Catholic University for fifteen years. She has performed puppet theater and theater plays. She has owned a bookstore since 1985, where she teaches reading encouragement workshops for children and teachers.

Kerly Palacios

Kerly Palacios Escobar (Guayaquil, 1994) is an Ecuadorian writer and poet. She has published two poetry collections, “El desvelo de mis versos” (2018) and “Secuelas” (2020). In 2021, she published her first novel, “No puedo hacerte el amor,” an erotic romance about a couple who cannot consummate their marriage. She claims to have written it in just four hours in December 2020, while character development and editing took another six months. She has taken part in the International Book Festival of Guayaquil.

Elías Muñoz Vicuña

Elías Muñoz Vicuña (Yaguachi, Guayas, May 10, 1922 – Guayaquil, February 10, 1997) was an historian, writer, university professor, and member of the Ecuadorian Communist Party. His historical essays include: El 15 de Noviembre de 1922 (1978), Biografía de Olmedo (1980), and Papel Histórico de Vicente Rocafuerte (1983). In 1976 he was appointed professor of Economic, Social and Political History of Ecuador at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Guayaquil; in 1984 he was declared a member of the Institute of Labor Law; and in 1985 member of the Guayas chapter of the House of Ecuadorian Culture, and Visiting Professor of the Institute of Diplomacy of the University of Guayaquil. In 1983 he became a member of the National Academy of History. He traveled to many countries as a representative of the Ecuadorian Communist Party, including to Cuba in 1966 per the invitation of Fidel Castro; and in 1970 at the Centenary of Lenin’s birth in Ecuador, the Soviet Union awarded him with the “Lenin Gold Medal” in a public ceremony. Several educational institutions are named after him in Guayaquil.

Félix Villacís

Félix Abel Villacís del Valle (March 17, 2000) is an Ecuadorian novelist and poet. He has written four books. He worked as an editor for Editorial Déjà Vu and as the director of Editorial Madriguera from 2019 to 2021. His published books include “A la cuenta de tres” (2016), “La vida que me diste” (2018) and “Nudos” (2021). In 2020 he was a finalist of the eighth edition of “Día del libro y de la Rosa.”

María Paulina Briones

Mara Paulina Briones Layana (Guayaquil, 1974) is an Ecuadorian writer, editor, and professor. She currently teaches Journalism and Literature, as well as Journalistic Projects, at Casa Grande University and the University of the Arts (both in Guayaquil). She also runs the publishing company Cadaver Exquisito, which she founded in 2012, and has been the director of La Casa Morada, a cultural initiatives company that promotes reading, since 2009. She is featured in the bilingual poetry collection “Lengua me has vencido” (2017). Some of her stories have appeared in the Latin American Culture magazine Guaraguao, as well as the virtual magazines El Otro Lunes and Matavilela from Ecuador.

Carlett Decker Santistevan

Carlett Miroslava Decker Santistevan (Guayaquil, 1996) is an Ecuadorian writer, screenwriter, filmmaker and director. She has a degree in Cinema from the University of the Arts with a mention in directing and screenwriting. Her short stories have been published in online magazines such as Letralia and Extrañas Noches.

Jorge Tigrero Vaca

Jorge William Tigrero Vaca (Guayaquil, 1986) is an Ecuadorian poet, writer, journalist and university professor. He has published books of poetry, short stories and essays on pedagogy. He is a member of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), an international governmental body for cooperation between Latin American countries in the field of education, science, technology and culture. He is also a member of the Global Network of Writers in Spanish (REMES). Tigrero works as a professor at the Casa Grande University, ECOTEC University and University of the Arts.

Carlos A. Rolando

Carlos Alberto Rolando Lobatón (Guayaquil, September 13, 1881 – Guayaquil, January 5, 1974) was a doctor, writer and bibliographer. In 1925 Rolando was appointed library director at the University of Guayaquil and also became a numerary member of the National Academy of History. In 1930 he established the Guayaquil Historical Research Center. The National Authors Room of the Municipal Library of Guayaquil bears his name.

Vicente Rocafuerte

Vicente Rocafuerte Bejarano (Guayaquil, May 1, 1783 – Lima, Peru, May 16, 1847) was an independence leader, statesman, diplomat, politician and writer. He was born into wealth and was educated in Spain. He returned to Ecuador in 1807 and was instrumental in freeing the country from Spain and, subsequently, from Gran Colombia. He served in the National Congress, as governor of Guayas Province, and as the second president of Ecuador (from 1834 to 1839). Rocafuerte’s writings on political systems, social reform, religious toleration, and economic development had significant influence on liberals in several Spanish American nations. Several schools and various awards are named after him, and many statues throughout Ecuador stand in his honor.

Carlos F. Granado Guarnizo

Carlos Francisco Granado Guarnizo (Guayaquil, 1890 – 1946) was an Ecuadorian poet, writer, playwright, literary critic and journalist. In 1913 he began publishing literary articles in the magazine El Telégrafo Literario under the pseudonym Lohengrim, and in 1914 in the newspaper El Cascabel under the pseudonym Antonio de Tarfes. In 1915 he began publishing poems in the magazine El Guante. That same year he wrote his poems, “Rotativa” and “Jesús,” which he donated to the Children’s Protection Society, which published them on their own account with a prologue by Nicolás Augusto González. In 1916 he founded the magazine Helios which he directed until its last issue in 1918. In 1917 he published his play Justicia, which Ricardo Descalzi described as one of Ecuador’s first works of social theater. A second edition of the play was published in 1939, the proceeds of which he donated to the Freemasons of Guayaquil. He had been a Freemason since 1919. His brother Miguel Ángel Granado Guarnizo was also a poet.

María Auxiliadora Balladares

María Auxiliadora Balladares (Guayaquil, 1980) is an Ecuadorian writer and university professor. Her short story Jamón serrano won second place in the 10th Pablo Palacio Short Story Biennial. Her first book, a collection of short stories entitled Las vergüenzas (2013) consists of ten stories and was well received by critics. Among the stories which stand out in the book, En el sótano, originally written in 1999, tells the story of two children who discover their father’s homosexual relationship with the man whom he had passed for years as his brother. In 2017 she published the collection of poems Animal, which was inspired by her affinity for animals and her relationship with the wild. It obtained second place at the seventh Lyre Festival of Cuenca. Her collection of poems Guayaquil (2017) won first place in the Pichincha Poetry Prize Competition. The work, published in 2019 by the Pichincha Provincial Council, brings together 22 poems that present the author’s experiences during a trip to Guayaquil.

Augusto Rodríguez

Augusto Rodríguez (Guayaquil, 1979) is an Ecuadorian poet, journalist, editor of El Quirófano Ediciones, university professor in Guayaquil and director of the Ileana Espinel Cedeño International Poetry Festival. He is the author of 20 books of poetry, short stories, novels, interviews and essays in prestigious publishing houses in Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Peru and Ecuador. His work has won numerous awards and is featured in various anthologies. He is one of the founders of the cultural group Buseta de Papel. He has participated in several literary events inside and outside of Ecuador. Part of his poetic work has been translated into twelve languages: English, Arabic, Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian, Italian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Serbian and Medumba.